Strs Ohio Buys 10,300 Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)

Strs Ohio lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH - Free Report) by 94.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,200 shares of the construction company's stock after buying an additional 10,300 shares during the period. Strs Ohio owned approximately 0.06% of Meritage Homes worth $3,693,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MTH. Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 2,380 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 14,821 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,366,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 1,979 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $242,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the period. Advisor Partners II LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 2,438 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $298,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 4,308 shares of the construction company's stock worth $527,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Zelman & Associates upgraded Meritage Homes from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com lowered Meritage Homes from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Meritage Homes from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Meritage Homes from $151.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Wedbush cut Meritage Homes from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $155.00 to $148.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $172.67.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE MTH traded up $0.26 on Friday, hitting $150.35. 285,324 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 403,232. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $159.14 and a 200 day moving average of $151.23. Meritage Homes Co. has a twelve month low of $109.23 and a twelve month high of $179.68. The company has a market capitalization of $5.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.59 and a beta of 1.77.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The construction company reported $5.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.18 by $0.20. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.03% and a net margin of 12.03%. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Meritage Homes Co. will post 17.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. This is a boost from Meritage Homes's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Meritage Homes's dividend payout ratio is 15.06%.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In related news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total transaction of $406,975.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 100,266 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,322,302.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Meritage Homes news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total value of $406,975.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 100,266 shares in the company, valued at $16,322,302.14. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 797 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.62, for a total transaction of $121,638.14. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,234 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $798,813.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,998 shares of company stock worth $635,171. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meritage Homes Profile

Meritage Homes Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs and builds single-family attached and detached homes in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Homebuilding and Financial Services. It acquires and develops land; and constructs, markets, and sells homes for entry-level and first move-up buyers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Utah, Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.